


per verum

by fishydwarrows



Category: The Magicians (TV)
Genre: Crack, Crack Treated Seriously, Fluff and Angst, M/M, POV Alternating, POV Multiple, POV Third Person, Quentin Coldwater Lives, im the showrunner now, quentin coldwater is a frog, season 5?? haven't heard of her
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-12
Updated: 2020-05-12
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:29:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24137395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fishydwarrows/pseuds/fishydwarrows
Summary: Quentin casts in the Mirror Realm and disappears. The gang does some research. Eliot tells the truth.
Relationships: Eliot Waugh & Julia Wicker, Kady Orloff-Diaz & Julia Wicker, Margo Hanson & Eliot Waugh, Margo Hanson & Josh Hoberman, Quentin Coldwater & Alice Quinn, Quentin Coldwater & Julia Wicker, Quentin Coldwater/Eliot Waugh
Comments: 47
Kudos: 135





	per verum

**Author's Note:**

> hello! we as a fandom need more crack fics so please take this one. special thanks to my margo, isabelle, who galaxy brained this concept into existence with me. Thank you for reading and please consider commenting if you enjoyed! :)

“So,” Alice began. “Quentin disappeared.”

Eliot had woken up from his axe-to-the-gut-and-ensuing-blood-loss-coma after two-ish weeks. The first thing he had asked for was Quentin (after Margo had hugged him very tightly and very carefully and told him that if he ever got possessed and almost died again, she’d kill him herself.) Alice had drawn the short straw and was the unlucky duck who had to break the news…

“He casted in the Mirror Realm to stop Everett- “

“-Who?”

“Head of the Library, he was stealing magic- and Quentin stopped him, but the magic did something and he disappeared.” Eliot threw off his blanket and struggled to a standing position, batting away Alice’s hand when she tried to help.

“He’s just gone?” Eliot said with an expression and inflection Alice couldn’t read (or rather 100% could and did _not_ want to think about.)

“No. He’s not gone _gone._ We did a…séance and Penny said Quentin wasn’t,” she grimaced and pointed down, “and that it wasn’t his time yet anyway.” That was the gist of the information anyway. Alice had been amazed at just how much cursing could be achieved with a Ouija board and some determination. (And Penny had a _lot_ of determination.)

“Okay…” Eliot steadied himself on the chair next to his hospital bed and after a second plopped down.

“Okay…but, where did he go then?”

“We’re still figuring that out. Kady did a locator spell and it says he’s on Earth and, thankfully, the east coast, but the specifics are hazy.”

Eliot frowned.

“We’re working on it, I promise.”

And the truth was, they _were._ It just wasn’t fair that Q had to disappear on them now, after working so hard to get Eliot back, he deserved to see him alive and whole. Not to mention, he and Alice had just decided to try being friends for real, and Quentin had promised her they would work as a team.

Alice sighed.

“I’ll leave the address of Kady’s loft for when you get discharged – though I’m sure Margo will just drive you – come and help when you’re healed.”

“I,” Eliot blinked. “Thank you, Alice.” She smiled quickly and nodded.

“See you,” she said and left, hoping when she got back this time there’d be some clue to where Q had gone.

-

Eliot finally recovered enough to come over to the loft by the end of the month. Margo drove him and worried the whole way. Eliot still had a limp and a cane – god, a cane – because when she had smacked him in the fucking guts, she had hit something crucial. She didn’t…regret it…but it still hurt to see El limping around, looking like a sexy and depressed Ebenezer Scrooge in the spring.

At the loft, she was surprised to find Josh of all people making what looked like buttermilk biscuits in the kitchen with a frog sitting on his shoulder.

“What the fuck are you doing here,” she said, dropping Eliot’s overnight bag by the door, “and what the _fuck_ is that thing?”

Josh stopped cutting circles into his dough and looked past Margo: “Hey Eliot! How’re you feeling?” Eliot raised an eyebrow.

“I’m fine. What’s with the frog?”

“Oh? Sir Hops-A-Lot? I found him when I got back from Fillory - long story, Fen stopped a war - and Margo it’s so nice to see you. I think Sir Hops recognizes my awesome Naturalist magic and wants to hang! He’s my little familiar.” Josh picked up the frog from his shoulder and patted his little head.

“You wanna hold him?” “Uh. No thanks, slime and…frog, we don’t mix.” Eliot said, shaking his head and joined Julia, Penny-23, Alice, and Kady who were working at the coffee table. Margo hesitantly patted Sir Hops-A-Lot.

“Josh, sweetie, I’m all for reptile and amphibious adventure buddies but just, remember Q’s still missing and El came to help with _that.”_ Sir Hops bounced onto the island and croaked. Josh cut a circle into his dough and sighed.

“Yeah, I know, it’s just- “he pulled Margo aside and whispered: “we’re getting nowhere. The locator spells aren’t working and no matter how many times we fucking séance Penny to get Quentin’s book, he tells us he can’t and that looking for Quentin’s book could ‘set off a course of events so magically disastrous the whole world would be ret-conned’ and our lives would go ‘so fucking sideways’ we’d be unrecognizable as people.”

“Well, fuck,” she whispered.

“ _Yeah._ ” Josh said.

Margo looked back at Eliot, who had seemed so lost and upset on the drive over. What would they do if Q were lost for good? What would _she_ do?

-

Kady was frankly too busy. Between becoming the impromptu leader of the Hedges and researching how to find Quentin, she felt like she was being pulled in too many different directions. And if she had to find Eliot sadly drinking in his _all black mourning suit_ at 3am again she was going to lose it.

She sighed and leafed through another fucking manuscript on the Mirror Realm. There weren’t a lot of texts on the place but it’s all they had aside from the quick interview she’d taken with Harriet and the stilted conversation she’d had with Alice at the beginning of the month. She took out a small sticky note and made a notation, noticing a line at the corner of that said “ _non dimisit in rana specie_ _v_ _eritatis_.”

Something, something, frogs.

Huh.

That was another thing driving her insane.

Josh’s stupid frog: Sir Hops-All-Over-Their-Fucking-Research. Josh just claimed the froggy bastard was friendly but Kady was over it. If she wanted to see a frog, she’d watch Nat Geo or the fucking Muppet Show. But _no_ Sir Hops was “a comfort creature” and a “kitchen helper.” Something she did _not_ want to think about. But yeah, they had no leads and it had been a month and a half, ugh.

Where the fuck did Quentin go??

-

Julia made a frustrated noise and threw the seeing stone to the floor.

“Okay, okay, so obviously the rock is a no-go.” Eliot said, picking it up with effort from the carpet.

“This is just- god,” she said, rubbing her temple. “Eliot, what if he doesn’t want to be found? What if he’s lost in another world like my shade was? What if he’s- “Julia swallowed thickly and curled up on the couch.

“I can’t even say it. I don’t want to think it, but I do- what if he’s- Eliot, what if Q’s… dead?” Eliot paled and crossed to the couch.

“He’s not. I would know it,” he said fervently. Julia rubbed at her face. She felt tired and she wanted to scream.

Something hopped on her shoulder.

“Oh Jesus Christ!” Julia yelled.

“It’s Josh’s frog.” Eliot said, looking disgustedly at the amphibian.

“I think it’s trying to comfort you…” 

Julia looked at the thing on her shoulder and laughed maybe a tad hysterically.

“This is my life now, huh?”

“Now? The _frog_ is the weirdest thing?” Eliot smiled wryly.

“Well, he’s not the weirdest thing, but definitely one of the nicest things,” she patted the frog’s head. “Thanks, little buddy.”

Eliot sighed.

“Should we get back to it?”

“Yeah, let me just- “she picked up the frog and looked at Eliot.

“Don’t look at me, you couldn’t get me to touch that thing with a ten-foot pole,” he said, scooching away as far as he could on the couch.

“You know, he’s not slimy.” 

Julia set the frog on the table, where it hopped up and down on some documents. She shooed it away. But, the frog had somehow managed to lift her spirits, she had to believe they could find Q, somehow.

-

Penny did not want to be part of this. Really it was a favor for Julia. He could care less about finding Quentin, considering what happened in his timeline, but let bygones and whatever; he still couldn’t shake the cold feeling he got every time he remembered this timeline’s Penny’s words to him.

So maybe it was a guilt thing…not just a favor.

And since it was more than a favor, Penny had to admit that he had noticed something lately. He’d been hearing someone – or something – in his head, but from very far away, like they’d been muffled with a blanket, or they were on the radio two doors down, distant and indistinct. He knew the sound though, it was Quentin.

He just couldn’t place _where_ , which was why the locator spells were getting more and more frustrating the more they didn’t work. They just said that Quentin was in the loft!

And _that_ was fucking useless because the only thing there was them.

-

Josh finished tossing his salad and sat down at the island. Sir Hops-A-Lot was doing what he did best: hopping. Specifically, hopping on some manuscripts. Josh noticed he did that a lot. It was adorable. He pulled out his laptop and opened up Word.

Everyone else was working on looking for spells for Quentin and he _had_ been helping, but it was Josh Time, and Josh Time meant writing a recipe for his cooking blog. Sir Hops-A-Lot jumped over, and Josh could almost swear he was eyeing the laptop with interest. But he was a frog, so, no. Josh took a bite of some sweet leafy greens and flexed his fingers: it was time to record all the details of his Spanische Windtorte (that made you hear colors.) Just when he was about to start, Sir Hops popped up in front of him.

“Aw,” he said, patting the frog on the head, “What is it, little guy? Wanna write something?” He was joking (obviously) but Sir Hops-A-Lot jumped on the keyboard with gusto.

“Oh, this is amazing,” Josh said to himself. He watched as his frog managed to make the font on Word as big as it could possibly be, then it turned around.

Sir Hops-A-Lot looked him dead in the eyes (hard to do if you’re a frog) and pressed a single letter on the keyboard.

** Q. **

Josh’s eyes bugged.

No way.

No fucking way.

He scooped up – oh my god – Quentin and jumped off his chair.

“Uh, guys??”

-

Eliot looked with disbelief at the tiny gross-ass amphibian cupped in Josh’s hands. “That’s Q?” Margo said. She looked at the frog (Quentin?) and up at Josh.

“Are you sure, Josh, because this fucker’s been hopping around the loft for the past two months with no indication that it could, ya know, talk or anything.”

“Maybe he can prove it?” Alice said, staring at the frog.

“You say it can communicate, that it’s Quentin.”

“Can it write something?” Kady frowned. “Something only Quentin would know?”

“Yeah, god, just put him by the laptop or something.” Julia said, wringing her hands.

Eliot rubbed his face. Jesus Christ, he needed a drink. He watched as Josh set Sir-Maybe-Quentin-Hops-Whatever on the island counter by his laptop. The frog climbed on top of it and began moving the mouse with its little foot.

God, his life was a joke.

It took a long time for it to write anything, considering, well, frog, but eventually they got a sentence. Penny-23, impatient after a half hour of waiting, strode over and read it out loud for everyone.

“Peaches and plums,” he said.

“What the fuck does that mean?”

Eliot ran to the island and picked up the frog, who climbed easily into his cupped hand.

“It’s Q.” Eliot laughed.

“Oh my god, it’s Quentin and he’s a fucking frog.”

-

“A kiss breaks the spell.”

“Alice, what the fuck.”

“I found the answer, Sir Hops- Quentin had been jumping on it for weeks and I, just…well I thought he was just a frog, so I never thought about it but its- you guys know the frog prince, right?” Alice waved a stack of documents in their faces.

“Someone has to kiss the frog and…well, presto! No more frog.”

“Just kiss?” Margo frowned, “No extra shit about true love and all that?”

“Well not that I can find.” Alice said. She set down her papers and looked across the room.

“Eliot give me Quentin.” Eliot on reflex drew Q closer to his chest and then stopped.

What was he even doing?

He crossed the room and handed Quentin to Alice, who held him eye level.

“Please work,” she said, and kissed him. Eliot waited. Alice pulled away and Quentin… was still a frog.

“Give him here.” Margo said, and grabbed Q (carefully) from Alice, who looked upset, god. Margo pecked Quentin on his little froggy face.

Nothing.

One by one they kissed the frog, but there was no luck.

Eliot held Quentin close to his heart, he had been the last one to try. No one said anything, but he could bet they were all thinking the same thing: what do we do now?

Eliot, unprepared for that answer, walked to the kitchen. From behind he heard Kady say something like “wait a second” and the telltale sound of searching through papers and her cry of surprise.

“It’s a kiss of true and honest love- Jesus, this is some fairytale bullshit- “she said.

Eliot ignored her.

He grabbed a bottle of – something – and went out to the balcony, locking it behind him. He dropped onto the outside chair and let out a frustrated sound.

“Fuck,” he said, and took a swig from the bottle – Merlot, he could get drunk off of that maybe. Quentin hopped from his hand onto the table. Hopped because he was a fucking frog and none of them knew how to fix it.

“Fuck,” he said again, “Quentin, I- I wish I could fix this. I wish I could fix- “Eliot rubbed a hand over his face. “I wish I could fix us. I… I fucked _us_ up and now I can’t even… I mean you’re a fucking frog right now and this is just stupid how we’ve been fucked five times and sideways by everything.” Quentin croaked.

“And I- It’s my fault, it’s my fault because you sat next to me, and said, ‘why the fuck not’ and I ran away. I ran away because I was scared Q and I told myself I would be braver but you’re- I don’t know how to fix this I want to; I want to fix this.” Eliot scooped up Quentin, and he imagined the frog looked worried but that was probably because he was halfway through the bottle. 

“Quentin, I love you,” he said, “I love you and I turned you down but I didn’t- I want you and I want to be with you and wake up with you and spend fifty more years of my life with you and that scared me so, so much, Q, so I just ran away like a fucking coward and I’m so sorry, Q. I loved you for a really long time and I love you now and I want to continue loving you.”

And on a whim, he closed his eyes and kissed the fucking frog again.

-

Quentin staggered to his feet and smiled at Eliot.

“Kiss me for real this time?” he asked.

Eliot stood up, eyes shining, and nodded.

**Author's Note:**

> the latin essentially means "the appearance of the frog is revealed in truth"
> 
> (also the title means "the truth")
> 
> my twitter: @wow__then
> 
> my tumblr: @fishfingersandscarves


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